There’s a pair of sisters who run around the woods near Hateno Village looking for truffles, and if Link gets close enough, they panic about nearby Bokoblins and Link has to rescue them. I am so thoroughly sick of the event that despite using Link’s house as a convenient place to do the amiibo shuffle, I avoid those woods so I don’t have to deal with it anymore. (If I hear them calling for help, I can’t just let them get beat up. [1]) Well, the sisters have found their way to the road leading into Eldin, and trouble isn’t far behind them. At least it’s a little different here.
The Foothills Stable is not far into Eldin, and for good reason. A woman sitting at the campfire outside says Link’s going to need special protection if he’s going up the volcano, and she’s not wrong. The temperature gauge goes to the max and catches on fire (looking at the Sheikah Slate map, where it usually displays the temperature it just displays an error message), and so will Link if he’s not protected. She sells him fireproof elixirs which will give him some time on the mountain. (Link can make them himself by catching either the lizards or butterflies on the mountain.)
Inside the stable, there’s a landscape painting with Death Mountain, the stable, and a shrine. If Link finds where the painting was made, he can find the shrine. Tah Muhl Shrine’s trial is Passing the Flame, which is all about burning things. (Except for one case where he needs to Magnesis a key over a gate.) The shrine near the stable for convenient fast travel is Mo’a Keet/Metal Makes a Path, where Link needs to go up slopes with boulders rolling down. One of the boulders is magnetic and can be used to, as the shrine title says, block the others and clear the way.
Eldin Tower is a long climb up the mountain; the actual tower has plentiful landings for Link to rest on, so it’s easier than getting there. There’s one more shrine on the path up the mountain, located in the middle of a lava lake: Qua Raym/A Balanced Approach, which has a couple balancing puzzles. The final test before Link reaches the first Goron mine is an Igneo Talus fight, which was easy in the Trial of the Sword and even easier now that Link has access to his normal weapons [2].
The Goron Southern Mine is notable for two reasons: First, there are not one, but two Gorons with “–son” names who agree to move to Tarrey Town. (After requesting and receiving more wood, Hudson next wants Link to recruit a Gerudo.) Second, Kima is leaving the mountains but wants Fireproof Lizards as a souvenir. When Link brings him enough, he gives Link the Flamebreaker Armor, which will protect Link from the fiery heat without need for an elixir.
At last, Link arrives at Goron City. Here, he can buy the other two pieces of the Flamebreaker Armor set (the helmet is a pricey 2,000 rupees). Beyond Goron City, the air gets even hotter and he needs either two pieces of the set or one plus an elixir to not burst into flames, so it’s good to have. When upgraded by the fairies, it makes Link completely immune to fire. Not only will he not burst into flames, Bokoblins attacking with burning sticks just do stick damage, Lizalfos fire breath is shrugged off, Link can hover around Dinraal without having to worry, and best/weirdest of all, any puzzle that requires finding a way through fire is utterly trivialized.
Goron City wouldn’t be complete without a shrine to fast travel back to, so there’s Shae Mo’sah/Swinging Flames. The shrine has a number of puzzles involving lanterns hanging from strings or chains, and Link’s supposed to shoot the string to knock the lantern down and/or shoot the lantern so it swings, all with the end goal of setting something on fire. In keeping with the game’s general philosophy, however, it doesn’t matter how the things get set on fire, so if Link is able to make fire himself, he can skip the whole “swinging flames” part of the shrine.
Next: Come see the Amazing Goron Cannonball!
[1] This mentality got me in so much trouble in City of Heroes. “I’m too low-level to save you!” was not in my vocabulary for a very long time. (I got “All that crap is gray to me, no XP” pretty fast, though.)
[2] Normal arrows catch fire in the Death Mountain heat. Bomb arrows explode on being drawn. I never checked how fire arrows behave because normal arrows that catch on fire are pretty much the same thing. Ice arrows are cold enough to still work as intended.
